MartinHafer "Lassie Come Home" is an incredibly well made and beautiful looking family film. It represents the best film of its kind MGM could make and is the best of the Lassie movies. And, although it's full of schmaltz, it's such well made schmaltz that just about everyone will enjoy the film if you give it a chance.When the film begins, the Carraclough family is in serious trouble. They're a poor English family and need money and so the father (Donald Crisp) decides to sell their one prized possession...their dog Lassie! Considering how his son adores the dog, and vice-versa, your heart breaks when little Roddy McDowell has to part with the pooch. What follows is escape after escape...and the dog amazingly is able to somehow find its way back home to the Carracloughs. Heartwarming...and a tear-jerker. All of the best qualities MGM could put into a film are stuffed into this one--loved color cinematography, very moody and fitting music, some wonderful supporting contract players (such as Edmund Gwen, Elizabeth Taylor and many others) and the MGM style all make this a sweet film and a must-see for everyone but the grouchiest viewers.

Petri Pelkonen Sam Carraclough has to give away his dog Lassie because he can't afford to keep her anymore.That makes the son Joe very sad, who is always expecting to see Lassie waiting for him after school.But Lassie has decided to come back home.Fred M. Wilcox is the director of Lassie Come Home from 1943.Samuel Marx is the producer.It's the first Lassie movie and it's based on the 1940 novel by Eric Knight.Pal the dog plays the part of Lassie, and he does a fine job.The human actors ain't too bad either.Roddy McDowall plays Joe Carraclough.His parents are played by Donald Crisp and Elsa Lanchester.Nigel Bruce is Duke of Rudling.We see pretty recently passed on actress Elizabeth Taylor playing his granddaughter Priscilla.Dame May Witty and Ben Webster play Dally and Dan'I Fadden.Edmund Gwenn portrays Rowlie.This is a quite touching movie from time to time.It's difficult to hold back tears when Lassie comes back home with a damaged leg.And when he is reunited with Joe.This tear jerker from the 1940's works for the whole family.

Jackson Booth-Millard There is a debate about who is the most famous dog in the movies, Rin Tin Tin and The Wizard of Oz's Toto are among them, but the most mentioned is the star of this adorable family film, from director Fred M. Wilcox (Forbidden Planet). Basically Yorkshire fifteen year old Joe Carraclough (young Planet of the Apes' Roddy McDowall) and his parents, father Sam (The Man from Laramie's Donald Crisp) and Mrs. Carraclough (Bride of Frankenstein's Elsa Lanchester) are very poor. The only thing Joe can rely on to cheer him up is his faithful female Rough Collie dog Lassie (as Lassie, real name Pal, and a male), but with tough times the family are forced to sell her off at a good price. Lassie escapes from the kennels of Duke of Rudling (Rebecca's Nigel Bruce) by digging and jumping out of the cage, but then she is taken miles away from Joe, all the way to Scotland. The Duke's granddaughter, eleven year old Priscilla (young Cleopatra's Dame Elizabeth Taylor) can see how unhappy Lassie is and wants to go back home to Joe, so she helps her make her escape. So now the brave dog is off on a long trek back to Yorkshire, facing many perils along the way, including mean gunmen wounding her in case she is trying to catch their sheep. Lassie is caught in a violent storm, but helped by a kind elderly couple, Dally (Dame May Witty) and Dan'l Fadden (Ben Webster). Then she finds lonely tinker Rowlie (Miracle on 34th Street's Edmund Gwenn) with his little Terrier dog Toots, who is really kind to her providing food, and she joins in a street show to help get a few pennies. Lassie also saves the life of her new friend from two nasty thieves, Snickers (John Rogers) and Buckles (Alec Craig) who cause the tragic death of his best friend. After finding her own road, Lassie faces her last challenge with two dog catchers who try to nab her, and jumping out of a window to escape she receives a nasty limp on her right leg, but she still keeps going. Eventually Lassie has made it all the way home to Sam and Mrs. Carraclough, and Priscilla and the Duke show up so he can offer Sam a job at the kennels, and they deliberately dismiss the identity of Lassie so she can stay. Lassie leave the house one more time to make her way to be outside school when Joe always meets her, and he is overjoyed to see his best friend safe and sound, and the film ends with Joe, Priscilla, Lassie and the new puppies running down the road together. McDowall and Taylor prove themselves great stars even in their youths, and the support of kind characters like Witty and Gwenn are really good too, but the star of this film is of course the dog. Lassie, or Pal, is (or was) a magnificent and beautiful dog who carries the audience all the way in her love-driven journey to get back to her owner, and the music by Daniele Amfitheatrof helps too, a must see family adventure. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Cinematography. Lassie was number 39 on 100 Years, 100 Heroes & Villains, and the film was number 83 on The 100 Greatest Family Films. Very good!

Judie64 I love this movie. If I even watch a minute of it I'm guaranteed to cry. My favourite bit where I'm really howling my eyes out is near the end when Lassie has arrived at the cottage, looking like she's been through the wars, well, if you watch the movie, you'll know that she has!. The mother of the house attempts to feed her the last bit of food that they have in the house. The Lord who has bought the dog comes looking for lassie on the off chance that she will have traveller the hundreds of miles to be where she truly belongs. he recognises that it is indeed lassie but proclaims that there's no way that this bedraggled dog could possibly be Lassie and leaves, offering the man of the house a job looking after his dogs. Then the clock strikes four on the mantelshelf and Lassie who looks like she is unable to walk the length of herself gets up and makes her way limping pathetically toward the door. (By this time I'm working my way through the tissue box, howling "God love her") The mum and dad try to dissuade her but she keeps scratching at the door until it's opened. she makes her way toward the school to meet the boy (Roddy McDowell) and when he sees her (cue another load of tissues) he says Lassie, you've come home. It all works out in the end, the Dad gets his job with the lord looking after the dogs, Lassie has pups and the boy becomes friends with the lord's granddaughter. This movie should only be watched by people who enjoy a good greet!